Duration of low temperature storage, clove topping and smoke water on garlic sprouting and seedling vigor

Abstract

Background and Objective: The extended dormancy period of garlic cloves more than three months after harvest is one of the limiting factors to produce garlic twice a year, in Ethiopia, especially in areas that have a bimodal rainfall distribution. Thus, pre-planting clove treatment is an important agronomic concern for inducing and improving sprouting behavior. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of low temperature storage, clove topping and smoke water on sprouting behavior of garlic variety (‘Tseday’). Materials and Methods: Glasshouse experiment was conducted at Haramaya University to evaluate the effect of cold storage (7°C) durations (10, 20, 30 days and one stored at ambient temperature 21°C), clove topping (whole and cut) and volume by volume concentrations of smoke water to distilled water (0:0, 0:1000, 2:1000, 1:1000, 0.67:1000 and 0.5:1000) on sprouting behavior of improved garlic variety (‘Tseday’). The treatments were laid out in a factorial arrangement with three replications using Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Results: The interaction effect of 30 days cold stored and topped cloves significantly increased sprouting percentage (46.30-88.42%) over five consecutive measurement days. This treatment resulted in a fourfold increment in the speed of sprouting and increase in pseudostem height (64.34%) and shoot dry mass (46.51%) as compared to the control. However, smoke water treatment showed non-significant effect on all the parameters considered in this particular study. Conclusion: The result of the experiment revealed that 30 days of cold storage and topping of garlic cloves could enhance early sprouting and better field establishment.